How long would you leave a 9 year old home alone?

[Anonymous]

We live in very walkable neighborhood. Shops/grocery stores all just a block or two.

Very responsible almost 8-year old boy--I'll leave him home while I take 6-year old to the barber or we run for milk at While Foods, etc. He knows not to open the door, etc. We have a very sociable neighborhood where everyone knows all the neighbors and watches out for everyone.

I also leave him when picking up little brother from a play date , etc. He feels very important/grown-up.

He has a few neighborhood friends a year or two older that are very impulsive and I would not leave them alone .

[Anonymous]

So many scared, scared, fearful parents here, busy frightening their kids.

I would have no problem leaving a responsible 9 year old home from school for a day, or for an hour or two in the evening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in very walkable neighborhood. Shops/grocery stores all just a block or two.

Very responsible almost 8-year old boy--I'll leave him home while I take 6-year old to the barber or we run for milk at While Foods, etc. He knows not to open the door, etc. We have a very sociable neighborhood where everyone knows all the neighbors and watches out for everyone.

I also leave him when picking up little brother from a play date , etc. He feels very important/grown-up.

He has a few neighborhood friends a year or two older that are very impulsive and I would not leave them alone .

I am surprised you leave a 7 yr old home alone.

[Anonymous]

Would leave my very responsible 9 year ok'd fir an hour or two. Not more really and when I'm close by. Didn't realize people left kids for much longer stretches.

[Anonymous]

About to leave my 9 year old for two hours while we go out for drinks with friends just around the corner...he's fine and wants to stay home.

[Anonymous]

Um, no. I'm pretty sure it's illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, no. I'm pretty sure it's illegal.

Your wrong.

If you read the thread it's already been noted several times that here are generally no laws that govern this. Guidelines yes, laws no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, no. I'm pretty sure it's illegal.

As far as I can tell having looked into this a bit, leaving a 9 year old home alone is not illegal in DC, MD, or VA. Some counties have guidelines ( guidelines not laws) setting 8 as a minimum, but other than that I'm not aware of a specific minimum age in any of those three locations' laws. Not sure about other states. Where it could become illegal is if the situation is deemed as child endangerment, which would pretty much have to be decided on a case-by-case basis but I'm fairly sure most DCUM parents would be able to spot that line and not cross it.

I would be comfortable with leaving my almost 9 year old home alone for ~3-4 hours by herself, and I might be willing to leave her home alone for the length of a schoolday/workday in an emergency, based on her past examples of handling the responsibility of staying home for a few hours well.. However, I would not be comfortable leaving her with her younger sister until she is old enough to take the babysitting course (age 11 I think).

[Anonymous]

Seriously, PPs? It's not illegal. And I would think it's a decently safe way to start teaching a kid basic independence. Those of you advocating age 12+, weren't most of us babysitting for younger kids at that age?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first child: 2-3 hours. My second child: 2-3 minutes.

LOL! +1

[Anonymous]

60 minutes if I was at a neighbors..never otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in very walkable neighborhood. Shops/grocery stores all just a block or two.

Very responsible almost 8-year old boy--I'll leave him home while I take 6-year old to the barber or we run for milk at While Foods, etc. He knows not to open the door, etc. We have a very sociable neighborhood where everyone knows all the neighbors and watches out for everyone.

I also leave him when picking up little brother from a play date , etc. He feels very important/grown-up.

He has a few neighborhood friends a year or two older that are very impulsive and I would not leave them alone .

I am surprised you leave a 7 yr old home alone.

She said 8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many scared, scared, fearful parents here, busy frightening their kids.

I would have no problem leaving a responsible 9 year old home from school for a day, or for an hour or two in the evening.

The coddling helicopter mommies want full control. Hysteria over every possible little thing just pushes fear into all these kids. I am scared how they will raise our grandkids. Everyone might be homeschooled by then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many scared, scared, fearful parents here, busy frightening their kids.

I would have no problem leaving a responsible 9 year old home from school for a day, or for an hour or two in the evening.

The coddling helicopter mommies want full control. Hysteria over every possible little thing just pushes fear into all these kids. I am scared how they will raise our grandkids. Everyone might be homeschooled by then.

That's kind of interesting. I run in homeschool circles, and although at first appearance the kids are coddled, I actually find the kids have way more independence. (IN GENERAL, yes there are exceptions and obviously some variation family to family). But in general, homeschool families are significantly larger than average and, often out of necessity, start entrusting 10 and 11 year olds with a lot of responsibility. Toddlers are kind of ignored and certainly not spoonfed (figuratively and literally). Kids starts doing independent school work at a pretty young age (as soon as they can read), where they are responsible for reading and completing different assignments with minimal help from the parent. Anyway, just in my experience homeschooling parents tend to be the exact opposite of helicopter parents, and are typically more laid back and "trust in God" (ie, not so afraid of every little thing). Just my observations. I totally agree with your sentiment though, about how parents seem to be absolutely terrified these days (it starts in the womb) and how that fear gets instilled in kids from a very young age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm the OP of the thread in General Parenting about having my 9 year old go home by himself. I have left him at home for 30 minute stretches in the afternoon. He is perfectly fine, knows all the rules, and adheres to them. Basically spends his time reading. An hour or two would be fine as well.

Now crossing the road is quite another problem...

Yeah, every time I think we're getting to the point where my 9 yo might be able to start crossing busy(ish) streets by himself he'll do something boneheaded that proves he's not ready.

What is it with kids not knowing how to cross the street? I think I see a kid doing a bone head thing at least once a month. last month I saw a kid ride his bike across Burke Center parkway and Roberts road against the light. that is 4 lanes of fast moving traffic.